Kalona Realty: Small team, big results

By Molly Roberts
Posted 6/3/21

Kalona Realty might be a smaller company, but Broker and President Tina Hershberger says they are a well-kept secret for residents of Kalona and many surrounding areas.

“I think people see …

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Kalona Realty: Small team, big results

Posted

Kalona Realty might be a smaller company, but Broker and President Tina Hershberger says they are a well-kept secret for residents of Kalona and many surrounding areas.

“I think people see us as a small firm, but we’ve always been very competitive with some of the bigger firms,” Tina said. “Although our brick-and-mortar is here in Kalona, we service a large area because we’re members of the multiple listing service out of Iowa City. We have a broad brush out of this area that we farm. 

Real estate agent Hayley Herberger said Kalona Realty sold homes in about 10 different counties last year. 

Tina bought the business in 1992; before then she worked for Farmers Savings Bank, processing loans and as a licensed in-house appraiser for the bank. She took this background in real estate and turned it into Kalona Realty. 

She also helped her daughter-in-law, Hayley, get into the business. Hayley originally planned to study nursing but decided to switch to business administration and finance and, from there, Tina talked to her, and she chose real estate as her career path. 

“I absolutely love it,” Hayley said. “It just happened and it’s a perfect fit for me.”

Also working at Kalona Realty is Brian Sieren who is Hayley’s father. After about 30 years of working for then-Farmer’s Supply, he decided to change paths when the business became Sinclair Tractor in 2019. 

“The housing industry has always intrigued me, and real estate has always intrigued me, so when the dealership changed hands, I thought, ‘Now’s the time to make the switch.’” 

Rounding out the Kalona Realty staff is Abbi Patterson, a current Finance and Marketing student at Iowa State University, who just received her realtor’s license in May after studying over winter break. During her senior year at Mid-Prairie, Patterson interned with Kalona Realty and, under Hayley’s tutelage, fell in love with the industry. 

All four members of the Kalona Realty team are invested in the Kalona community and said that sense of community is one thing that makes Kalona Realty unique. 

“We live here, and we work here,” said Tina. “We try to give back to the community… For instance, Hayley is a first responder, my son is a fireman for the Kalona Volunteer Fire Department and so is my husband. This past year my husband and I delivered senior meals to residents over the lunch hour. We’re very vested and we like to give back to the community and school district because we live here.”

Hayley also said the small-town feel of the Kalona area, and Washington County in general, is special to her.

“I can say for myself and other agents, that we just enjoy helping people through major times in their lives, which is purchasing a new property, and truly being part of this community,” Hayley said. “You see these familiar faces after you help them buy or sell. It’s satisfying and rewarding to help people and then see them later and learn that they’re still happy where they’re at.”

When it comes to first-time home buyers the Kalona Realty team agrees that education is important. 

“We always try to have that first contact and educate them that it’s best if they’re pre-qualified, especially in this market,” Tina said. “They want to get in touch with a mortgage loan officer, make sure that they run their income-to-debt ratio and that they have a prequalification letter in hand, because if they don’t, the market is so competitive they’re going to miss out in negotiations.”

“They need to ask plenty of questions,” Sieren added. “Because there are a lot of questions for a first-time home buyer. There are a lot of things they don’t know. And they need to know that there are no dumb questions.” 

Another important piece of advice for first-time buyers is to find a real estate agent they can trust and get along with, and then stick with them, Tina said. 

“They’re professional, they will find you a house, eventually,” Tina said. “It’s not easy if they hop around from agent to agent. It’s best if they would just be vested in someone that they feel like they can work with, that they have a mutual personality with, that they get along with. Try to stay with that person.”

With Kalona Realty being a four-person team, each member of that team has to operate in many different roles. This can be a major benefit to the clients, who have one point-of-contact throughout the entire process of buying or selling their home.

“We are a small company, and we all wear a lot of hats,” Tina said. “Once we work with a client, that file stays on our desk from beginning to end, because we do the entire transaction from beginning to end… I always tell people after we close, that the transaction doesn’t stop there. If you have questions down the road, with anything, give us a call. We like to keep that relationship going through the years.” 

Visit Kalona Realty’s website at kalonarealty.com or call 319-656-5299 to get started with buying or selling your home.